A/N: My God... An update! Sorry for not answering any of your guys' reviews, but I wasn't getting the E-mail alerts, so I didn't even know about them until tonight (Nov. 23, 13). Sorry, not sure what's wrong with my alerts... Anyway: Thank-you guys for your reviews, faves and alerts! I mean it! Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you!
I hope that you guys enjoy this chapter.
P.S. I'm really glad that you guys seem to like the Hounds... And I promise that there will be another update in a few days.
Carolyn's back collided with the floor in a painfully solid impact (all the air rushing out of her lungs loudly), but it wasn't as bad as the last time. She was learning how to fall properly very quickly thanks to Kyra; motivation does wonders for a person's learning speed. Since the incident week a go when Kyra had to save her the blond pilot had started learning how to fight. At first it had been Conway teaching her, but he was to soft on her and Carolyn hadn't been learning anything, so had Kyra taken over.
Now Carolyn was learning. Quickly.
"Alright Kyra, she needs a break." Conway said from the sidelines, concerned about his childhood friend.
"She gets a break when I say she gets a break." Kyra snapped at him, seeming to ignore Carolyn as the blond forced air back into her lungs.
"She hasn't even eaten and we're halfway through the day." He bit out.
"She should have been up when I told her to be up."
"At least let her rehydrate!" Conway snarled, loosing his cool, something that he was far from prone to.
"Fine." Kyra said, rolling her eyes, "Pass me the bottle."
Conway tossed it to Kyra, who then held it where Carolyn could see it from her prone position on the floor.
"You get this, but if you want food you have to land a hit on me."
Carolyn never did manage it that day, but she got up the next day two hours before Kyra came to collect her. The next few weeks went by in a similar fashion with Carolyn learning slowly. Kyra decided to take another tact with her. Instead of pushing her mercilessly she confronted her and (metaphorically) cornered her. The blond made some progress that day. Kyra kept at it until one day Carolyn had a flashback to her childhood – triggered by the stress and a specific wording Kyra used – and passed out.
When Carolyn came around again she was in the hospital wing, staring at the ceiling. After a moment of confusion the blond pilot gingerly sat up, fighting back a dizzy spell and carefully swinging her legs over the edge. Once everything stopped spinning she looked around. Before Carolyn could actually orient herself, however, she was surrounded by Conway, Kyra and doctors all trying to get her to lay back down.
"NO!" Carolyn finally erupted, "I don't want to lie down!"
"Linny, you need to; they're still running tests." Conway said gently, grabbing her shoulders and trying to manoeuvre her back into a prone position.
"STOP IT!" She screamed and this time a blast of green-white energy exploded out of her, sending everyone flying back and colliding with objects.
Carolyn stayed conscious for a few moments before collapsing again.
She woke up again to find Ma'iek's massive face staring down at her neutrally. For a moment she could have sworn that she saw Riddick instead. She mentally shook the mirage off as patently ridiculous (yes, he was possibly the Alpha Furian, but there was no way that he could look out through the Hound's eyes... Right?). Carolyn manoeuvred herself into a sitting position and looked around. Ma'iek was sitting next to her, so she couldn't see much of the room and he was moving. From what she could see it looked more-or-less like a typical – if large – ship's med-bay. Despite Ma'iek's disinclination to move she did manage to spot Kyra, Conway and a doctor staring at a screen behind a computer station.
"What happened?" Carolyn asked in a croaking voice.
All three heads turned to stare at her, then they exchanged glances. Conway explained what had happened, adding that Ma'iek had been the only one smart enough to give her some space at the time. Carolyn apologized sincerely, explaining that she had been finding being crowded increasingly... Disagreeable.
"Did anyone get hurt?" Carolyn asked after a pause.
All of them shook their heads at the same time and Conway added, "No, no one got hurt."
If anything they were in better health than they had been in years. They were also considerably more civil in their behaviour.
After another pause the doctor started explaining to Carolyn that – from what he could tell – she had passed out due to a trigger making her remember something from her childhood. It had been something Kyra had said or done, but they didn't what specifically. Carolyn couldn't remember what the younger woman had said or done to set her off.
"I'd like to try some memory regression therapy to help you with... Whatever the problem is."
Carolyn hesitated a moment – a nameless fear bubbling up from the pit of her stomach – before nodding and asking him when he wanted to start.
The next day the doctor – who turned out to be one of the few non-feral Furians – started the therapy. Unfortunately this had an adverse effect, causing her to start loosing feeling in her extremities as she started to slip into shock.
The attempt was aborted and Carolyn went back to training the next day, determined not to let the situation impair her.
A/N: Seriously, I'll try to update this sooner. I had taken a break so that I could work on my original story.